• March 11, 2000 “Rabbis’ Ruling May Nix Bid To Indict Suspect in Kid-Sex Rap,” by Al Guart. New York Post (p. 10) (Lesher quoted as source re: a secret rabbinic tribunal that purportedly cleared a tutor criminally charged with abusing a young pupil)
• April 16, 2002 “Orthodox Jews Have Faced Abuse Scandals As Well,” by Karen Matthews. Associated Press (picked up in Newsday, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, The Dallas Morning News, The Rockland Journal-News (NY), The Guardian (UK), among others)
• May 29, 2003 “Tripping up the Prosecution,” by Stephanie Saul. Newsday (pg. A6) (Lesher credited with unearthing government documents “embarrassing” to a District Attorney responsible for pursuing a fugitive wanted for alleged child sexual abuse)
• July 20, 2004: Presentation, “Do’s and Don’ts in Dealing with Child Protective Services,” New Jersey Parents Against DYFS, New Jersey
• November 30, 2004: Presentation re: family court problems to Justice Jacqueline Silbermann, Statewide Administrative Judge for Matrimonial Matters, Supreme Court of New York, New York, NY
• March 2005 (Adar II 5765) “A 20-Year-Old Custody Battle Brings Charges of Abuse to the Orthodox Community: In Edgewater, a Mother Waits for Her Daughter To Come Home [Waiting for Sherry Part I]” by Rachel Bluth and Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pg. 30) (Lesher quoted as authority)
• May 2005 (Iyar 5765) “Waiting for Sherry Part II: Who Doesn’t Want From Madness to Mutiny Published ... and Why?” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pg. 3)
• May 10, 2005 “From Madness to Mutiny,” an interview with Amy Neustein and Michael Lesher. Nitebeat with host Barry Nolan, CN8 (Comcast Cable Network)
• May 27, 2005 “Locals Co-Author New Book” Community News section. New Jersey Jewish Standard (pg. 13)
• May 29, 2005 An interview with Amy Neustein and Michael Lesher. NewYorkOne News, New Jersey segment
• May 31, 2005: Presentation of From Madness to Mutiny with co-author Amy Neustein at Jewish Book Network of the Jewish Book Council at the Kraft Center for Jewish Life, Columbia University, NY
• June 2005 (Sivan 5765) “Waiting for Sherry Part III: Was That Really Sherry Orbach Writing in The Jewish Press?” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pg. 22)
• June 3, 2005 “From Madness to Mutiny” Community News section. Jewish Community News of Clifton/Passaic (pg. 11)
• June 3, 2005: Signing of From Madness to Mutiny with co-author Amy Neustein, at the Book Expo of America, Javits Center, New York, NY
• June 5, 2005 “An interview with Michael Lesher and Amy Neustein.” “The Week in Review” hosted by Bob Pickett and Charles Etheridge III, KISS-FM
• June 23, 2005: Signing of From Madness to Mutiny with co-author Amy Neustein, at Clifton Commons Barnes and Noble, Clifton, NJ
• Autumn 2005 “Book Review: From Madness to Mutiny” by Helen Grieco, Executive Director, California NOW, in California NOW Activist (pg. 6)
• September/October 2005 “Groundbreaking Book: From Madness to Mutiny,” Bergen County The Magazine (pg. 61)
• September 19, 2005 “Playboy Mom Speaks” with Harris Faulkner, reporting. “A Current Affair” (FOX TV) (From Madness to Mutiny shown in connection with a notorious protective-parent case)
• November 2, 2005 “OCA Opens Files to Counter Judge’s Critics,” by John Caher. New York Law Journal (pg. 1)
• November 2, 2005 “Custody Ruling Protested: Mother, Supporters Decry Judicial System amid Battle Over Child's Fate” by Michele Morgan Bolton, Albany Times Union (pg. 1) (referring to From Madness to Mutiny)
• November 2005 “A New Release Examines Why Family Courts Are Failing” by Barbara Clarke. Women’s VU (the monthly newsletter of the Margaret Cuninggim Women’s Center at Vanderbilt University) (pg. 4)
• December 2005 (Kislev 5766) “Dr. Amy Neustein: Battered Mothers Custody Conference ‘Woman of Valor’ ” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pg. 3) (refers to From Madness to Mutiny and to the invitation to the authors to speak at the Battered Mothers Custody Conference in January 2006)
• December 15, 2005 “Award for Activist, Author Neustein at Siena Conference on Mothers Custody.” The Jewish World (Albany) (pg. 5)
• December 30, 2005 (29 Kislev 5766) “Dr. Amy Neustein: Woman of Valor” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Press (pg. F1) (reprint of JVO article above)
• December 30, 2005 “Judging Amy” by Jacob Berkman. The Jewish Standard (pg. 3)
• January 6, 2006 “State Delegates at Family Court Talk.” The Jewish Advocate (Boston) (pg. 2)
• January 8, 2006 Delivered keynote address
at third Battered Mothers Custody Conference, a symposium of lawyers,
judges, mental health professionals and others (with Amy Neustein)
• January 20, 2006 (20 Tevet 5766) The Jewish Press (pg. 9) (photo of Michael Lesher, Amy Neustein and Professor Mo Hannah at the Battered Mothers Custody Conference, January 8, 2006; photo at right by Joe Lombardo)
• March 17, 2006 Workshop: “How To Manage a Lawsuit -- With or Without a Lawyer,” Jewish Community Center, Clifton, NJ
• May 12, 2006: Pre-Mothers Day Press Conference on the Steps of New York City Hall, with Jeanine Pirro (candidate for New York State Attorney General), Chris Owens (candidate for Congress), City Councilwoman Letitia James, and representatives of NOW NYS and Voices of Women, New York, NY (Neustein and Lesher speaking as experts on the problems of mothers in family courts)
• May 12, 2006 10 p.m. News (WWOR T.V. New York) (Lesher speaks as expert at press conference dealing with the problems of mothers in family courts)
• May 12, 2006 “Pirro: Moms Must Have a Level Playing Field in the Family Court” Yonkers Tribune (Lesher and Neustein cited as experts on family court reform).
• May 13, 2006 “Pirro Criticizes Family Courts” by Liz Anderson. The Journal News (pp. 1B-2B) (Lesher and Neustein quoted as experts on family court).
• May 14, 2006 Workshop: “How To Manage a Custody Lawsuit -- With or Without a Lawyer,” Jewish Community Center, Clifton, NJ
• June 2006 (Sivan 5766) “Now It’s Bipartisan: Jeanine Pirro and Chris Owens Adopt Family Court Scandal Raised by Dr. Amy Neustein and Michael Lesher” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pg. 3).
• July 10, 2006 “How To Handle Your Custody Suit in Family Court,”The Justice Hour, with Lisa Marie Macci, WPBR, discussing custody and child abuse legal issues, West Palm Beach, FL
• July 2006 (Tammuz 5766) “Abuse in the Orthodox Community and the Beit Din” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pp. 11-21) (detailing Lesher’s work, as lawyer and investigative reporter, in exposing the truth about two stalled prosecutions for child sex abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, NY)
• July 14, 2006 “Bipartisan Interest in Family Court Scandal” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Press (pp. F2-F3) (reprint of June 2006 article from The Jewish Voice and Opinion)
• July 25, 2006 “‘Rabbi’ Rousers: ‘80s victims want ‘perv’ extradited” by Philip Messing. New York Post (pg. 20) (Lesher quoted as counsel for two men charging an Orthodox rabbi with child sex abuse)
• July 25, 2006 “Silence of the Lam” by Kristen Lombardi. Village Voice (pp. 26-34) (Lesher quoted as counsel for man charging an Orthodox rabbi with child sex abuse, and regarding the Brooklyn D.A.‘s failure to advance the case)
• July 28, 2006 “Victims Press Brooklyn D.A. To Seek Abuse Suspect’s Extradition From Israel” by Nathaniel Popper. Forward (pp. 1, 7) (Lesher described as “Orthodox lawyer who has passionately taken up the case” and who uncovered government documents revealing prosecutors’ inaction)
• August 22, 2006 “Film Documents Systemic Family Court Problems Nationwide” by Elizabeth Stull. Brooklyn Eagle (p. 12) (citing the review of From Madness to Mutiny in the New York Law Journal)
• October 11, 2006 Nightline, ABC TV, “Conspiracy of Silence: Child Sex Abuse Case Still Haunts” reported by Cynthia McFadden (Lesher appears as counsel for six alleged victims of Avrohom Mondrowitz, demanding justice on their behalf)
• October 20, 2006 “Hynes Mum on Mondrowitz” by Jennifer Friedlin. The Jewish Week (p. 3) (Lesher, as counsel for alleged Mondrowitz victims, challenges D.A.’s failure to pursue the case)
• November 2, 2006 “Betraying the Trust: Rabbis and Child Sex Abuse,” a teleconference for therapists, advocates, lawyers and other professionals hosted by Jewish Women International, with Amy Neustein, Ph.D., Rabbi Mark Dratch and Mark Weiss, discussing child sex abuse issues (from Washington, DC)
• November 8, 2006 Channel 7 Eyewitness News at 11 pm (WABC TV New York), “Did an Alleged Sex Abuser Escape Justice?” reported by Sarah Wallace (Lesher, as counsel for six alleged victims of Avrohom Mondrowitz, criticizes the role played in the case by Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes)
• December 2006 (Kislev/Tevet 5767) “Jewish Women International Tackles Child-Abuse by Rabbis in the Orthodox Community” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pp. 13-17) (Lesher quoted as legal expert on child sexual abuse in Jewish communities)
• December 15, 2006 “Kolko Scandal Now Criminal” by Adam Dickter. The Jewish Week (Lesher cited as lawyer seeking the appointment of a special prosecutor for other cases of child sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish community of Brooklyn, NY)
• March/April 2007 (Adar/Nissan 5767) “Bookends: From Madness to Mutiny” VA Jewish Life (p. 17) (describing the book and Lesher’s upcoming appearance at the University of Virginia to discuss family court malfunction)
• April 17, 2007 Presentation: "Madness and Mutiny in the Family Courts," sponsored by the University of Virginia Women’s Center, Congregation Beth Israel, Charlottesville, VA
• October 11, 2007 “Israel Asked To Extradite Fugitive Rabbi” by Nancie L. Katz. Daily News (p. 30) (Lesher interviewed as counsel for alleged victims of Avrohom Mondrowitz, who express “some relief” at the news of the renewed extradition effort after many years)
• October 17, 2007 “Abuse Victims Hope Healing Begins with Rabbi’s Arrest” by Nancie L. Katz. Daily News (Brooklyn section, p. 47) (Lesher’s clients quoted on the importance of Mondrowitz’s prosecution and the harm caused by a delay thought to be politically motivated due to Orthodox community pressure)
• October 19, 2007 “Hynes Now Seeks Mondrowitz Extradition” (Staff Report). The Jewish Week (p. 19) (citing “victims’ advocates” such as Lesher who have charged that D.A. Charles Hynes “was afraid of losing support among Orthodox voters if he put Rabbi Mondrowitz on trial”)
• October 23, 2007 “US Wants Extradition of Prominent Ger Hassid Accused of Sodomy” by Matthew Wagner. The Jerusalem Post (Jewish World section) (Lesher quoted on the “heavy pressure to drop the case from the Orthodox community in Brooklyn” and its effect on the case)
• November 2007 (Kislev 5768) “After 23 Years, Fugitive Wanted for Child Sex-Abuse in Brooklyn’s Orthodox Community Faces Extradition from Israel” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pp. 3, 6, 8, 10, 12) (Lesher quoted for his role on behalf of victims of sexual abuse and helping to secure a new extradition request for the alleged abuser)
• November 12, 2007 “Israel OKs Extradition of Brooklyn Pedophile Suspect” by Matthew Kalman (with Nancie L. Katz). Daily News (p. 14) (Lesher quoted expressing satisfaction that accused child molester Stefan Colmer will be extradited to Brooklyn, and saying “we certainly will not rest until the same is done with Avrohom Mondrowitz”)
• November 15, 2007 “Extradition Decision Renews Focus on Alleged Abusers Who Fled to Israel” by Ben Harris. Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) (Lesher quoted as counsel for alleged victims of Avrohom Mondrowitz and on his role in helping “to see that the case” against alleged abuser Stefan Colmer “did go public”; also describing a press conference to be held on November 16, 2007 “to renew pressure for action” in the Mondrowitz case)
• November 15, 2007 “In the Basement, Behind a Closed Door” by Aviva Lori. Ha-aretz (cover story, Weekend magazine) (Lesher quoted as counsel for alleged victims of Avrohom Mondrowitz and on his role in “put[ting] pressure on the DA’s office to issue a new request for Mondrowitz’s extradition”)
• November 16, 2007 “22 Years Later, a Child Abuse Suspect’s Extradition Is Sought” by Tina Kelley. New York Times (p. B4) (Lesher, as counsel for alleged victims of Mondrowitz, quoted saying, “Had we [in the Orthodox community] looked at this kind of case differently to begin with, and said, ‘Let’s go to the police and stop this man as soon as we can,’ how many of these men wouldn't be victims at all?”)
• November 16, 2007: Press conference to announce the arrest of Avrohom Mondrowitz in Jerusalem, with Lesher, Dr. Amy Neustein, Rabbi Mark Dratch, Rabbi Isaac Mann and Susan Rosenbluth, New York, NY (Lesher announces the latest developments in the case as counsel for six alleged victims)
• November 16, 2007 “Mondrowitz Arrested in Israel” (staff report). Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA) (Lesher, as counsel for alleged victims of Mondrowitz, says that celebrations are premature because “there is too much left to do”)
• November 16, 2007 Channel 7 Eyewitness News at 6 pm (WABC TV New York), “Prosecutors Seek Extradition of ‘Rabbi’ in ‘84 Sex Abuse Case” reported by N.J. Burkett (Lesher, attorney for alleged Mondrowitz victim Mark Weiss, is among critics who blame slow progress in the case on the political influence of the Brooklyn Orthodox community; N.J. Burkett reports, “Critics are hoping Mondrowitz will name names, potentially exposing others who may have been involved in a coverup”)
• November 17, 2007 “Israelis Nab Perv-Rap Rabbi” by Matthew Kalman, Joe Gould and Dave Goldiner. Daily News (p. 16) (Lesher, announcing the arrest of Avrohom Mondrowitz, expresses “gratitude to victims who came forward, who were willing to expose their pain”)
• November 21, 2007 “Alleged Pedophile Held in Israeli Prison After Extradition Request from Brooklyn” by Anthony Weiss. Forward (Lesher, speaking after a press conference on November 16, expresses hope that “the [Israeli] court would take whatever steps are necessary to ensure that Mondrowitz does not escape justice”)
• November 22, 2007 “Activists Welcome Suspect’s Extradition” by Robert Wiener. New Jersey Jewish News (Lesher quoted at press conference announcing Mondrowitz’s arrest, calling it “a moment for gratitude for victims who had the courage to come forward and expose their pain, despite the fact that many rabbis from our community who should have been there to support them did not”)
• January 9, 2008 “Pedophile Suspect Extradited from Israel Charged in NY” by Michal Lando. Jerusalem Post (Lesher quoted about the successful extradition of Stefan Colmer and the pending extradition of Avrohom Mondrowitz, stressing the long resistance encountered in the latter case)
• February 11, 2008 “Accused Perv Rabbi Loses Extradition Battle” by Matthew Kalman and Dave Goldiner. Daily News (p. 22) (Lesher quoted as counsel for Mondrowitz victims saying that the Israeli court ruling to extradite the indicted child abuser to Brooklyn means “we are tangibly closer now” to justice)
• March 27, 2008 “Small Justice: How the Family Court System Denies the Rights of Victims of Sexual Abuse,” Festival of the Book, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA (Lesher, appearing with attorney Wendy Murphy and screenwriter Angela Shelton, speaks on family court issues and reads from From Madness to Mutiny at the invitation of the University of Virginia’s Women’s Center, afterwards responding to questions)
• April 16, 2008 “No Sex Charge for Kolko; Boys’ Parents Foiled by DA” by Hella Winston and Larry Cohler-Esses. The Jewish Week (Lesher quoted as “attorney and community advocate specializing in child sexual abuse cases,” criticizing the Brooklyn D.A. for “a pattern of inaction . . . in cases of this kind”)
• November 2008 (Cheshvan 5769) “Two NJ Experts in Combating Sex Abuse in the Orthodox Community Seek Spots on Dov Hikind’s New Task Force” by Susan Rosenbluth. The Jewish Voice and Opinion (pp. 3, 6, 8, 10, 12-14, 16-17) (Lesher featured as possible member of a task force on child sex abuse in the Orthodox community being established by a prominent Orthodox New York State politician)
• December 17, 2008 “Mondrowitz Extradition Case Thrown into Limbo” by Hella Winston. The Jewish Week (Lesher quoted raising questions about the status of the case and citing legal reasons Mondrowitz should be extradited)
• December 30, 2008 “Mondrowitz Accusers Seen Ready To Testify” by Hella Winston. The Jewish Week (Lesher comments on the significance of a letter from the Brooklyn D.A.’s office affirming the complainants’ desire to have their alleged abuser prosecuted long after he fled the indictment)
• March 6, 2009 “Panel To Discuss Abuse by Clergy” by Abigail Klein Leichman. New Jersey Jewish Standard (Lesher among experts to speak at a March 15 panel discussion on child sexual abuse in Jewish communities at the Union for Traditional Judaism, Teaneck NJ)
• March 15, 2009 “Protecting Our Children,” a panel discussion on child sexual abuse in Jewish communities sponsored by the Union for Traditional Judaism, with Michael Lesher, Rabbi Mark Dratch, Rabbi Fred Hyman, Dr. Michael Kaplowitz and Dr. Rachel Yehuda (introduced by Rabbi Ronald Price) (edited audio of event available here), Teaneck, NJ
• March 19, 2009 “In Abuse Case, Press Charges or Help the Victim?” by Temima Shulman. The Jewish Week (Lesher quoted about weaknesses in the family court system that undermine justice for victims)
• April 2, 2009 “Brooklyn DA Announces New Plan To Urge Reporting of Abuse” by Hella Winston. The Jewish Week (Lesher questions the Brooklyn D.A.’s claim to resist interference from Orthodox rabbis in light of a 2000 child sex abuse case in which “all the facts suggested that the DA let a panel of rabbis make the decision about whether to prosecute a 96-count criminal complaint against a chasidic Jew”; Lesher also expresses hope that the D.A. and his staff “have learned from the errors” of the past)
• April 7, 2009 “‘Tempest in the Temple’: A Strange New Book Alleges Corruption & Conspiracy in Brooklyn” by Samuel Newhouse. The Brooklyn Eagle, back cover (detailing charges against the Brooklyn D.A. made in Lesher’s contributions to Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals (Brandeis University Press, April 2009); Lesher quoted complaining that leaders of Brooklyn’s Orthodox community “appear to have the cooperation of people in law enforcement and in Joe Hynes’s office”)
• May 6, 2009 “A Suspected Pedophile Eludes the System” by Hella Winston. The Jewish Week (Lesher quoted about the case of alleged child abuser Stefan Colmer, cited for helping to make possible Colmer’s arrest in Israel)
• June 17, 2009 “Colmer Plea Deal Seen Raising Questions” by Hella Winston. The Jewish Week (Lesher, cited for his work on the case, says that “child sex abuse victims in the Orthodox community are still fighting every element of the system to get justice. . . . the innocent few are still paying the price for the guilty -- and their moral accomplices”)
• October 28, 2009 “Orthodox Hope Guilty Plea in Sex Case Changes Approach to Predators” by Jerry DeMarco. Cliffview Pilot (Lesher quoted in connection with guilty plea of child sex offender; one of the victims was Lesher’s client, and Lesher has used this case to seek better community notification from community rabbis)
• November 10, 2009 “A Haredi Town Confronts Abuse from the Inside” by Steve Lipman. The Jewish Week, pp. 1, 22, 23 (Lesher named as “the legal ‘advocate’ for sexual abuse victims and as ‘their voice’” for “more than a decade”)
• November 11, 2009 “Tempest in the Temple: Jewish Communities & Child Sex Scandals” by David Morris. The Jewish Press, pp. F2, F4 (Lesher’s contributions detailing his work on the Avrohom Mondrowitz and Solomon Hafner child sex abuse cases featured in a review of Tempest in the Temple)
• December 9, 2009 “Did Brooklyn DA Chase Sex Abuser?” by Nathaniel Popper. Forward (Lesher wins a lawsuit requiring the Brooklyn D.A. to disclose documents pertaining to his record in the notorious Mondrowitz child sex abuse case; he says, “If the District Attorney has been telling the truth about his role . . . he has nothing to hide; if he has not been telling the truth, he has no right to hide.”)
• January 16, 2010 “Book on child sexual abuse in Jewish community wins award” by editorial staff. San Diego Jewish World (Lesher’s article with Amy Neustein entitled “A single-case study of Rabbinic sexual abuse in the Orthodox Jewish Community,” Journal of Child Sexual Abuse, 17(3/4), pp. 270-289, wins a Pro Humanitate award from the the North American Resource Center for Child Welfare for “the intellectual integrity and moral courage required to transcend political and social barriers to champion best practice in the field of child welfare”; the award is given at a ceremony in San Diego)
• January 19, 2010 “Mondrowitz May Have Been Treating Boys Long After Indictment” by Hella Winston. The Jewish Week (Lesher cited for presenting new evidence that the alleged child abuser was seeing children as a psychologist in Israel, with the knowledge of a prominent member of a religious party; Lesher says this “is a stunning contradiction of what we have been led to believe all these years.”)
• January 19, 2010 “Custody Crisis: Why Moms Are Punished in Court” by Gina Kaysen Fernandes. momlogic (Lesher quoted calling the situation of protective parents in family courts “a civil rights crisis . . . There’s no hearing, no evidence, no notice -- they can take your child away from you.”)
• January 19, 2010 “Israel sets Mondrowitz free: Assessing blame, options in notorious case” by Michael Orbach. The Jewish Star (Lesher says, “If prosecuted it [the case] would reveal so much about the corrupt underside of the society he comes from. . . . I think there were a lot of people who didn’t want that to happen.”)
• January 20, 2010 “Mondrowitz Escapes Another Trial” by Nathan Jeffay. Forward (Lesher expresses “outrage . . . rising anger that bringing Mondrowitz to justice is [still] being resisted.”)
• January 26, 2010 “Mondrowitz Extradition Ruling Raising Questions” by Hella Winston. The Jewish Week (Lesher cited as source of information that alleged child abuser had “assessed” a child in Israel referred to him by the father of a prominent religious politician)
• January 28, 2010 “Israel will not extradite alleged sex offender to US” by Paul Berger. The Jewish Chronicle (United Kingdom) (Lesher cited for uncovering “evidence that Mondrowitz has continued his practice of treating young boys in Israel”; Lesher says, “We have always heard from the rabbis that, whatever has happened, in Israel, Mondrowitz has been kept away from children. Taking this at face value, it seems, that is not true.”)
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